Developed by Kyle Killen and Steven Kane
Written by Steven Kane
Directed by Jessica Lowrey
Starring Pablo Schreiber, Yerin Ha, Danny Spani, Natascha McElhone, and Jen Taylor
New episodes airing Thursdays on Paramount+

by Emily Maesar, Associate Editor, TVJawn

There comes a time in every television series, especially one with such a specific focus like Halo, that side characters get to be in control of their own episodes. Because Master Chief is the lead of the show, Pablo Schreiber is in so much of it. Carrying a show with that much screen time, especially since he’s not in his helmet a lot (and thereby could be any performer), can be a lot. And sometimes actors need to not be in an episode - or need to be in it significantly less. But there’s also the story consideration, that when you have a big-ish stable of characters - then learning about more than a single one is much more satisfying and interesting. These two things, combined, is what allows us to see what’s going on with Kwan and Soren while Chief’s been having visions on Reach.

On Madrigal, the fight for control rages. We’re greeted, first, to a flashback scene to what Kwan’s life was like with her father alive and in control. Seemingly long before the fight in the pilot - before Spartans and Covenant and UNSC control. Even then, she was at odds with how the adults (and even other peers) viewed their fight and how to conduct it. As she drives the stolen vehicle from Soren into a dust storm, she’s taken by an unknown force.

Back on Rubble, Soren is alive and well. Having survived Kwan knocking his ass out, he seemingly made it back on one of the ships they were supposed to leave Madrigal together on - and he’s trying to put her behind him. His business partner, however, is displeased at the way Soren’s been conducting their business, and speaks out against him in front of the leaders on Rubble. Which… clearly this man has no fear of a former Spartan, because you could never catch me doing that! After taking care of his own possible rebellion, Soren realizes he can’t forget about Kwan, no matter how hard he tries. And so back to Madrigal he goes.

Kwan realizes that the unknown force are the women in the desert that her father went to go see, shortly before the start of the show. She’s given a mysterious drink and ends up seeing visions of Chief and a bunch of her ancestors, including her father. It’s here that she sees a well, one that her father saw too. And the vision of her father tells her it’s a portal, which will probably be how Kwan and Soren get to the Halo Array to meet up with Chief and Makee. (That’s a guess, but I’ll take a couple bucks on it, honestly.)

Once she comes back to herself, Kwan heads back to the mining facility where the big fight from the pilot took place. There Vinsher Grath catches up to her, but so does Soren. Grath brings his forces in and starts a barrage against our two heroes, which results in his death as Kwan retrieves John’s forgotten UNSC issued gun and proceeds to blow up the space elevator.

And for everything that’s fun and interesting in the final act fight of episode seven, there’s a lot of messy work with Kwan and everything happening outside of Chief. Not that the Chief stuff is much “cleaner” per say, but it’s much more laid out because of the games. The creative team is doing something fully new with Kwan. But, for all of Yerin Ha’s really great work, the writing of her character is deeply inconsistent. I’m excited to see her take back the planet, though I fear it might not last for very long… given the promos for episode eight.